t, as
it has appeared to a traveller in that country and a student of its
records. If Neter-Tua never sat upon its throne, at least another
daughter of Amen, a mighty queen, Hatshepu, wore the crown of the Upper
and the Lower Lands, and sent her embassies to search out the mysteries
of Punt. Of romance also, in high places, there must have been
abundance, though the short-cut records of the religious texts of the
priests do not trouble themselves with such matters.

At any rate, so believing, in the hope that it may interest readers
of to-day, I have ventured to discover and present one such romance,
whereof the motive, we may be sure, is more ancient, by far, than the
old Egyptians, namely, the triumph of true love over great difficulties
and dangers. It is pleasant to dream that the gods are on the side of
such lovers, and deign for their sakes to work the miracles in which for
thousands of years mankind has believed, although the scientist tells us
that they do not happen.

How large a part marvel and magic of the most terrible and exalted kind
played in the life of Old Egypt and of the nations with which she fought
and traded, we need go no further than the Book of Exodus to learn.
Also all her history is full of it, since among the Egyptians it was an
article of faith that the Divinity, which they worshipped under so many
names and symbols, made use of such mysterious means to influence or
direct the affairs of men and bring about the accomplishment of Its
decrees.

H. R. H.

MORNING STAR

by H. Rider Haggard

CHAPTER I

THE PLOT OF ABI

It was evening in Egypt, thousands of years ago, when the Prince Abi,
governor of Memphis and of great territories in the Delta, made fast his
ship of state to a quay beneath the outermost walls of the mighty city
of Uast or Thebes, which we moderns know as Luxor and Karnac on the
Nile. Abi, a large man, very dark of skin, for his mother was one of the
hated Hyksos barbarians who once had usurped the throne of Egypt, sat
upon the deck of his ship and stared at the setting sun which for a few
moments seemed to rest, a round ball of fire, upon the bare and rugged
mountains, that ring round the Tombs of the Kings.

He was angry, as the slave-women, who stood on either side fanning him,
could see well enough by the scowl on his coarse face and the fire in
his large black eyes. Presently they felt it also, for one of them,
staring at the temples and palaces of t